Under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, it was agreed upon to limit global temperature increases to 2 degrees or less. Following the US withdrawal, the European Union is taking the lead in implementing the agreement.

Stephen Nolan said that choosing Ireland as a base is a “tremendous endorsement of the work being done by us and our partners to build Ireland’s low-carbon economy”.

“Financial centres are the locations where the demand for and supply of finance come together. They are the places where the expansion of green and sustainable financial services will need to be accelerated across banking, capital markets, insurance and investment in order to fully meet the needs of the Paris climate agreement.”

Kirsten Dunlop, Chief Executive of EIT Climate-KIC, which is supporting the establishment of the European hub co-ordinated from Dublin, said:

“Transforming the financial sector so that it can accelerate transition to a zero-carbon economy necessitates not just new relationships with the finance sector, but new business models, new ways of accounting, reporting and understanding social and environmental value.”